About a decade ago, he started as a Chargers defensive assistant in charge of quality control. He became an assistant linebackers coach three years later, the outside linebackers coach two years later, the linebackers coach after two more and, following a four-season stint, accepted the big promotion.

Defensive coordinator John Pagano has been in San Diego so long.

It is easy to forget from where he came.

Before joining the Chargers, he was in Indianapolis from 1998 to 2001, a period that overlapped with the first four years the Colts installed their offense around a young Peyton Manning.

Times change. People change.

On Monday night, Pagano will stand on the opposite sideline of the 36-year-old veteran quarterback for the eighth time since 2002, including two occasions in the postseason. It will be the first with Pagano calling plays and Manning a member of the Broncos.

The two were close in Indy.

“Great relationship,” Pagano said. “Great relationship. He's such a great competitor and being around him as a leader, seeing how he worked, how he approached the game and how he handled everything, it was a good four years being around him.”

The Chargers have won five of their past six against the future Hall of Famer. They have intercepted him 15 times over that span.

Pagano's influence to that success can perhaps be overstated, but his inside knowledge of a Manning-led offense, as one former colleague said, certainly didn't hurt.

Ron Rivera, head coach of the Panthers, oversaw the Chargers' linebackers in 2007 and was their defensive coordinator between 2008 and 2010.

In March, during the NFL owners' meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., the topic arose about the Chargers' past success against Manning, about how much of the game when defending the cerebral passer is played before the snap.

Quickly, Rivera brought up Pagano, “one of the better X's and O's guys” in the league.

His understanding of the Colts offense, Rivera added, proved an asset.

“I think in talking about route combinations and what they tried to do against us,” Rivera said, “just understanding what they were trying to create in terms of the high-low combinations, the crossing combinations, stuff like that, John had a feeling for that.

“When I first got there in '07, listening to him talk about it, I'd say, 'Oh. I see exactly. OK.' Things click as you watch and try to understand what those combinations were trying to do. … When we would sit down and we would talk and when we would get into those meetings, I'd listen to him giving offensive perspective, especially Indianapolis. I learned a lot from him.”

It's questionable how much Pagano's history with Manning will be of use Monday.

Only 46 players in powder blue uniforms will be allowed to run between the white stripes. They are the ones who can execute and make plays.

Pagano didn't make much of the possibility that an advantage could exist, being that he's so far removed from being around Manning each day.